Known tape printing apparatus of the type with which the present invention is concerned are disclosed in EP-A-322918 and EP-A-322919 (Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha) and EP-A-267890 (Varitronic). The printers each include a printing device having a cassette receiving bay for receiving a cassette or tape holding case. In EP-A-267890, the tape holding case houses an ink ribbon and a substrate tape, the latter comprising an upper image receiving layer secured to a backing layer by an adhesive. In EP-A-322918 and EP-A-322919, the tape holding case houses an ink ribbon, a transparent image receiving tape and a double sided adhesive tape which is secured at one of its adhesive coated sides to the image tape after printing and which has a backing layer peelable from its other adhesive coated side. With both these apparatus, the image transfer medium (ink ribbon) and the image receiving tape (substrate) are in the same cassette.
It has also been proposed by the present applicants in, for example, EP-A-578372 to house the ink ribbon and the substrate tape in separate cassettes.
In all of these cases, the image receiving tape passes in overlap with the ink ribbon to a print zone consisting of a fixed print head and a platen (or vice versa) against which the print head can be pressed to cause an image to transfer from the ink ribbon to the image receiving tape. There are many ways of doing this, including dry lettering or dry film impression, but the most usual way currently is by thermal printing where the print head is heated and the heat causes ink from the ink ribbon to be transferred to the image receiving tape.
Currently, when a user wishes to start a new label, the user presses a key which clears the current label, that is the text of the label but not its label settings. The label settings are the settings that define the type of font used, the size of font used and if the font has any attributes. Other label settings may include if the label has a fixed length, if the text is boxed, if the text is justified and so on.
If the user wishes the new label to have different settings, the user must change the label settings or cancel the settings of the previous label. This is time consuming and inconvenient to the user. If the user forgets to cancel a particular setting, the label may be printed with one or more undesired settings. This means that the user must discard the label, which is wasteful of tape.
Some tape printers have relatively small displays to minimise the cost and size of the tape printers. For the more basic label printers, the display may not be a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). This means that the text will be displayed with a standard display font, which will look different to the printed font. The text will not be displayed with the label settings, which are apparent in the printed label. Additionally, the display is often not large enough to display the entire length of text and/or all the lines of text at the same time. It has been previously proposed by the applicant to have a preview mode in which the text of the entire label is scrolled across the display. However, with the displays which are not WYSIWYG, it is difficult for the user to determine which label settings and text attributes are provided.
Another problem with using relatively small displays is the resolution of some of the text. Conventional characters are generally relatively clearly displayed and can be read by the user. However, the text may include one or more symbols. Some symbols, which are available on tape printers, are relatively complicated and are difficult for the user to read when displayed. This problem is further exacerbated in that some symbols may be unfamiliar to the user and as such the user may have difficulty in determining if he has in fact selected the correct symbol.
Another problem with using relatively small displays occurs when the user is trying to select an attribute. If the display is only large enough to display, for example, one or two options for a given attribute, it is not clear to the user now many attribute options are available. A further problem is that the user is unaware of where in the list of attribute options the user currently is. Both of these problems make the label printers, which are currently known, not particularly user friendly in this regard.
Often a user will print the same label or the same basic label very frequently. The user of a tape printer will often have the option of saving these labels. However, often users will not bother to store their favorite labels and so will frequently input the same information or similar information. This is clearly disadvantageous.
Tape printers can be stand-alone devices or can be controlled by a personal computer (PC) or the like. Some tape printers are able to operate in two modes, that is either as a stand-alone device or in conjunction with a PC. When the tape printer is controlled by a PC, it is not possible in these known tape printers to enter data via the keyboard of the tape printer. This can be inconvenient because it may be that a user, having created some labels via the PC keyboard, subsequently desires to create labels at the tape printer, or to arrange for a second user to create labels at the tape printer. This situation may occur, for example, if the PC is situated some distance from the tape printer, perhaps because the PC is in an office, whilst the tape printer is on the factory floor. It would be desirable to be able to control the tape printer and create labels from either the PC keyboard or the tape printer keyboard, whilst avoiding accidentally altering labels that have already been created at one of the PC and the tape printer by use of the keyboard of the other of the PC and the tape printer.
Tape printers have a print zone where an image is printed on the tape. The print head prints against a platen or similar element. Downstream of the print zone, is a cutting zone where the tape is cut. The distance between the print head and the cutter generally defines a minimum length of a margin. Accordingly, the leading or trailing margin or a label generally always has to be greater than this minimum length. This can be disadvantageous.
It is an aim of embodiments of the present invention to address one or more of the above problems.